


names the sky his own

by ShanleenKinnJaskey



Category: Glee, Numb3rs
Genre: Blaine is an Eppes, Crossover, Episode: s01e07 Counterfeit Reality, Episode: s02e22 Backscatter, F/M, Gay Bashing, Gen, M/M, Season/Series 01, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-17
Updated: 2016-06-17
Packaged: 2018-07-12 10:58:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7100155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShanleenKinnJaskey/pseuds/ShanleenKinnJaskey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blaine Devon Eppes has quite the family and friend history. A math prodigy and an FBI agent as brothers guarantee quite the adventurous childhood- and when he returns home from school the summer after his sophomore year, complete with a boyfriend, life just becomes even more complicated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	names the sky his own

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from Maya Angelou.

Alan and Maria Eppes (nee Anderson) were too old for more children. They had two boys, who they loved dearly with all their hearts, but having to deal with a teenager and a ten-year-old prodigy was enough for them. Don and Charlie, their two beloved boys, were plenty.

And then, by some freak accident, that .01% of the time that birth control doesn’t prevent, Maria ended up pregnant.

*

Blaine Devon Eppes was born at a healthy 7 lbs, 0 ozs, with his brothers and his father in the room when he's handed over to Maria.

"He's so squishy and red," Charlie says, leaning forward over the rails of the hospital bed to get a good look at the baby in Maria's arms, "But he's kind of cute anyway."

"I betcha he's going to be genius like you, Charlie," Don says, and there's no jealousy in his voice- just pride.

"Well, _I_ think he's going to be a great baseball player like _you_ , Don," Charlie fires back with a smile.

"Well, I think he's going to be a singer," Maria says, absolute certainty in her voice, and no one argues.

-

Larry Fleinhardt first meets Blaine Eppes the spring of his second year of teaching Charlie Eppes. Charlie has kind of become his protégé over the past couple of years, and over the course of that Larry has become good friends with Maria, his mother.

When Charlie's father drops him off at college one day Larry meets him at the car, intent on asking Maria about Charlie taking an advanced mathematics class, and spots the bubbly child strapped into a car seat in the back who has Charlie's curls and Maria's eyes. "Why hello, little one," Larry says, tapping lightly at the glass as Charlie gets out of the front seat, "Aren't you the future of humanity?"

"That's Blainers," Charlie says, and Larry recognizes the fondness in his tone. "Well, technically Blaine but I call him Blainers. It's a nickname like Don. He's my little brother."

Larry looks at Charlie and then back at the small child in the car. "He was a late child, wasn't he?" He asks, mentally evaluating Blaine's age to be somewhere between four and six.

"Yeah," Maria affirms, and Larry looks up from Blaine to see Maria standing next to the car. "Blaine was our unexpected miracle. He's smart, aren't you Blaney Days?"

"That's Mr. Fleinhardt, right, mommy?"

Larry glances down to make sure he hadn't worn his nametag today and sure enough, he hasn't. Maria smiles at him. "See what I said? He's smart. Not Charlie-smart, but much more shrewd than either of his brothers. More like Sherlock Holmes than Richard Dawkins."

-

The three Eppes boys couldn’t be any more different. There was Don, the older and protective one who checked around every corner for threats, Charlie, the genius floating about in a sea of numbers and equations, and Blaine, who danced and sang through life with an optimism that amazed everyone. They each had their talents- Don, with his marksmanship and leadership, Charlie, with his mathematics and computing, and Blaine, with his singing, dancing, and sharper reasoning.

And yet they were inseparable- Don, the protector, Charlie, the brains, and Blaine, the heart.

-

The night after their mother dies finds the brothers all curled up on the couch, numbly watching _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,_ their guilty pleasure movie, hands clasped and legs overlapping under the covers. Blaine, all of eight years old, ends up squished between his brothers, curled onto the couch on each of his sides. There's something about the physical touch, the comfort of cuddling for the first time in ages, that's comforting for all of them, not just Blaine.

Alan walks in, tears almost permanently gathered in the corner of his eyes, and has to choke back a sob at the sight of his three boys curled up together tightly like any intrusion will let in the reality that his beautiful Maria is gone. So he doesn't do anything- instead just goes to his room and lets his boys stay together just a little longer.

-

"He was an ass," Amita describes her...ex-fiancé, and Blaine laughs quietly from his spot doing his homework (it's actually done- he's just pretending so he can listen to his brother's deductions on Don's case) at the end of the table.

"Amita, let's not use that kind of language in front of Blaine," Alan chides warmly, but Charlie exchanges a grin with his younger brother.

"He's heard worse from Don and I over the years, Dad," Charlie says. "I'm pretty sure the two of us and our friends taught him more curse words by age five than we knew by the end of high school."

"It's true, Dad," Blaine admits cheekily, and Alan rolls his eyes.

"Of course you do," Alan says, tone exasperated but fond. "I'd expect nothing less from your brothers, who can't keep anything from you."

Amita reaches over and ruffles Blaine's curls, which earn her a squawk of protest as she's messed with his gel. "With a face this adorable how could anyone resist?"

"Hey!" Blaine protests, "I'm not adorable! I'm fourteen- I'm not _cute_!"

"Charlie's twenty-four and he's still cute," Amita says with a half-smirk, half-smile, tone gentle and almost matter-of-fact. It's not like she's complimenting Charlie's romantically, though Blaine's convinced they'll get there one day. It's just a simple fact, almost like one of her, Charlie, and Larry's equations.

"Here that, Blainers?" Charlie says, " _I'm_ cute."

"Don't let it go to your head, Charlie," Blaine says, closing up his binder. "I'm still the cutest."

"That you are," Amita coos, ruffling Blaine's hair again.

"Says the boy who was protesting his adorableness just a moment ago," Charlie argues, and Blaine smirks.

"Says the boy who has won any kind of contest against his prodigy brother in the opinion of his _brother's_ friend."

"Girls won't find that kind of arrogance attractive," Amita teases, and Blaine swallows though he doesn't drop his smile. He hasn't come out to his family or their friends yet, and he knows that Amita's teasing is good-natured.

Still, though, it rubs him the wrong way, if only a little bit.

-

 

Blaine comes out to Charlie and Don first before he goes to his father. Don’s just come home from a heavy case involving the murder of a college student and he doesn't notice anything strange about his two younger brothers seated at the kitchen table. When Blaine turns to him and Don sees the tears on his cheeks, his heart stutters a bit. Blaine _never_ cries- he’s always been the bubbly, optimistic, a-little-too-shrewd-for-his-age little brother.

“What’s going on?” Don asks, dropping his jacket on the back of a chair.

“I’m gay,” Blaine says, dropping the fact into the conversation out of nowhere. Don looks at his little brother, the kid who’s spent fourteen years tagging along with him to everything, sees his tears, and realizes that nothing has changed. So what if his little brother is attracted to boys? His other little brother sees the world through numbers and equations that Don will never be able to grasp. Don may not understand some of either of his brothers’ inclinations, but he loves them both nonetheless.

“Okay,” he says, “That’s nice.” He grins. “Any boys I need to tease you about?”

Blaine’s jaw drops and Charlie chuckles. “Told you there was a 97.6% chance that he would be fine with it.”

"Only 97.6%?" Don asks, feigning hurt as he heads to the kitchen to grab food. "Charlie, you wound me."

"The numbers don't lie," Charlie says matter-of-factly and it's so normal, so _Charlie_ , that Don nearly smiles.

"He predicted it, you know," Blaine says, a smile slowly starting to grow back onto his face, and Don  _does_ smile.

"Of course he did," Don says, "He always does."

-

“You and your brother are a lot alike,” Kim says, and Charlie grins.

“Most people say that we couldn’t be more different,” Charlie replies, thinking about all the times that he, Don, and Blaine have gotten compared to each other. Mostly talking about the differences, but there have been a few people- Terry, David, Larry, and Amita- who have commented on their similarities. “Don, Blaine, and I don’t often get told that we’re similar.”

Kim raises an eyebrow. “Who’s Blaine?”

“My baby brother,” Charlie says, then corrects himself. “Well, he’s not really a baby anymore- he just turned fourteen a few weeks ago.”

“I didn’t know Don had another brother,” she replies.

“Not many people do,” he says with a shrug, gathering up the last of the playing cards.

“Why not?” She asks.

“He’s so much younger than us that most people don’t expect it."

-

Alan Eppes was dropping off Charlie’s forgotten lunch off at CalSci when he got the call that his youngest son, his loving, precious, too-damn-kind-for-his-own-good-child, was in the hospital because some homophobic assholes took issue to the fact that he was gay.

This is how Alan Eppes has to learn about the consequences of hatred firsthand: finding his son in a hospital bed, small and pale and bruised. For three nights and two days he and his two older sons sit by Blaine’s bedside, not moving until they see a change. Terry and David come by to show their support and to check on Blaine, as do Larry and Amita (somehow Blaine has managed to endear himself to all of Don and Charlie’s friends- when and how did that happen?), but the three Eppes men hold a constant vigil by Blaine’s side until he wakes up.

"I really hope the kid wakes up soon," David says as he stops by with breakfast for the Eppes men. "Without him everyone's so down. You, the team, Larry, and Amita. It's so gloomy without him."

Alan nods, accepting the bag of bagels. Charlie and Don haven't moved from their spots on Blaine's left side, not willing to let more than one of the three of them leave Blaine's side at once. There are dark circles under both of their eyes from insisting on staying up as late as possible the two nights before in case Blaine woke up. "I never thought this might happen," Alan says, voice strong but trembling just the slightest bit. "I accepted the fact that Don might get shot ages ago, and I've finally warmed up to the idea that Charlie might get hurt when helping out with your cases, but Blaine was supposed to be safe. He's fourteen, David- he should have been safe."

David, who's seen far too many children and teenagers hurt and dead while on his job, doesn't hold the same level of optimism as Alan seems to have, but he still never predicted Blaine would get hurt so bad while on his way home from school. He nods in agreement with Alan, though his source of hope is not as large as Alan's.

 

Blaine wakes up to his father sleeping on one side of the bed, hand clasped in his, and his brothers dozing on the uncomfortable seats in his hospital room. Don, unwavering in his support, Charlie, always by his side whenever Blaine called for him, and Dad, constant, balanced Dad.

Don wakes up a few moments after Blaine does, and Blaine meets eyes with his twenty-nine-year-old brother and sees steel, but then his eyes soften and he says, “Good morning, squirt. How are you?”

“Sore,” Blaine rasps, lips and throat dry, but he grins up at his older brother. He looks around, taking in the machinery surrounding him, the IV in his arm, and the strained expressions of his _sleeping_ brother and father, and asks, “How long have I been unconscious?”

Don has to appreciate, once again, that although Blaine isn’t a math prodigy like Charlie he does have a faster/more accelerated pace of reasoning than most people. Don checks the clock and sees that it’s three in the morning. “Since the day before yesterday, squirt.”

Blaine nods, taking in the information quickly. “Did you and Charlie finish up that counterfeit case while I was unconscious?”

Don nods. “We found the artist who was kidnapped and forced to make the counterfeit bills.”

Blaine notices Don’s slight hesitation. “What happened when you found her?” He asks, prodding lightly.

Don frowns. “I had to shoot someone. That’s never pleasant.”

Blaine nods, then winces. “ _God_ that hurts.”

Don remembers bank robbery case when he'd been grazed by a bullet. It had fucking hurt like the dickens, and he can't imagine what Blaine's feeling right now, even hopped up on all these meds. "Do you remember what happened?" He asks gently, not wanting to make Blaine suffer anymore than he already has.

"Some guy took offense to my homosexuality and beat me up with a baseball bat- a metal one at that," Blaine says calmly, and Don marvels at how much Blaine is _not_ freaking out right now. Don's blood is boiling with anger and he's about ready to punch someone at the thought of Blaine getting a metal bat to the face.

“Blaine, you’re awake!” Charlie exclaims, and Don and Blaine look over to find their brother awake and grinning, walking over from his seat and up to Blaine’s hospital bed. Don swallows back his anger and gives Charlie a weak smile as Charlie sits on the edge of the hospital bed.

"Hey, Blainers," Charlie says, and all three of them can tell that his bravado is as forced as Don's, "How have you been?"

Blaine lets out a wry laugh, and something rights itself.

-

Blaine transfers to Dalton Academy, back in his mom's hometown, that fall.

* * *

"Why should I let you go to L.A. with your boyfriend and his family for a _entire_   _month_? You could get hurt, murdered, all kinds of nasty things. Kurt, you're my only son-"

“Dad, it’s going to be fine. Blaine’s oldest brother, Don, is an FBI agent, and his older brother, Charlie, is a math prodigy, a professor at CalSci, and a FBI consultant. His best friends since childhood are FBI agents and Charlie's mentor, an older math professor- I'm going to be fine."

Burt looks at his son, sees the determination and pleading in his face, and caves. "Fine," he says, softening, "But only if I talk to Blaine's father first."

Kurt squeals and envelops his dad in a hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"I haven't said yes yet," Burt says, but he knows that in the end he will.

 -

Blaine and Kurt exit the terminal, hand in hand, to find a small but motley group of people waiting for them. Blaine grins and drags Kurt over to meet them all, introducing them after hugging each of them- Larry Fleinhardt, a small, genial older man who is introduced as his older brother Charlie's mentor at CalSci, David Sinclair, an FBI agent who works with Don, and Amita Ramanujan, a kind woman in her early twenties who is on a fast track to her PhD.

"Aw, Blainey," she says, grabbing him and ruffling his hair when he gets to her, "You're just as adorable as I remember."

Blaine's cheeks go fiery red as he grumbles about messing up his gel, and Kurt bursts out giggling at the mess Amita's made of his curls. He also grins at how close Blaine is with these people, hugging and chatting and getting close to them. Blaine is not very tactile with many people- he's polite, charming, and personable, but he's not as genuinely communicable as he is with these three- and it warms Kurt's heart to see Blaine grinning so openly like this.

"Sorry your brothers couldn't make it, champ," David says, "They're on case."

Blaine raises an eyebrow. "And why weren't you?"

David grins. "Haven't you heard? I have a new partner and so does your brother. They're working on the case right now while I help these two crazy people pick you up. And besides, I wanted to take the first round of meeting your boyfriend."

Kurt blushes at the mention of himself in the conversation as the three adults turn to look at him. Amita's the first to say anything to him- she grins and says, "Damn, Blainey, you sure know how to pick them." Then she peels herself away from the boys and heads over to Kurt. She sticks out her hand in offering to Kurt. "Nice to meet you, Kurt, I'm Blaine's only female friend."

"Hey!" Blaine yelps in protest, "I have Terry!"

"Sorry, kid," David says, "She got transferred out. Megan is Don's partner now."

"So, Blaine," Larry says, taking him by the elbow as they walk out of the airport, "I quite hope you've been working on improving your chess skills. I've been playing your father while you've been gone and while I try not to let the competitive nature of my species dictate my actions, there is something missing from not going up against the best player I know."

Blaine laughs and begins to talk chess strategy with Larry while Amita and David lag behind with Kurt.

"So..." David says, dragging out the word, "You're the boyfriend."

Kurt nods. "And proud of it. Blaine's everything I ever could have hoped for."

Amita raises an eyebrow. "Even with brothers involved with the FBI?"

Kurt shrugs. "How does his family influence how I see him? I mean, from what I've heard of his brothers their jobs are actually kind of interesting. I mean, solving crimes and catching criminals? That's a pretty brave job to have."

Amita grins."Kid, I think you'll work out just fine."

 -

Blaine pokes his head inside the meeting room at the FBI offices, visitor's nametag clacking against his polo pocket. There, standing in front of the info board with smudges of white all over his blazer and tshirt, curls springing up wildly all over his head, is his brother, explaining some technical equation. The excitement in his voice is palatable, the enthusiasm over what he's explaining recognizable to anyone who knows any of the Eppes.

"I can see the family resemblance," Kurt whispers wryly in Blaine's ear, "The curls and the enthusiasm are genetic, aren't they?"

"Don's hair isn't curly," Blaine protests quietly, "But I can see your point anyway."

"Which one's Don?" Kurt asks, curious.

"The black haired one sitting to the right of to the woman," Blaine replies, and Kurt searches him out.

"Got it."

 -

"That's weird," Don comments, frowning as his second credit card is denied.

"I'll get it, Don," Mr. Eppes says, and Don nods as he pulls out his phone to call someone. Mr. Eppes hands over cash to the delivery woman and she leaves while he brings over the food for the rest of them. "Here," he says, handing out the food, "Charlie, Blaine, Don, mine, and this one must be yours, young man." He hands the last container to Kurt.

"Thank you, sir," Kurt replies, and Mr. Eppes smiles.

“You’re welcome, kiddo,” he says, and something about the tone of voice he uses, fond yet almost strict, reminds Kurt of his father. Kurt meets his boyfriend’s gaze across the table and finds Blaine with a soft smile on his face.

 -

"For a very nice guy, you've got two very stubborn kids," David says.

"Make that three," Alan says, nodding towards Blaine, who's sitting on the table organizing files and offering small pieces of advice to Charlie, and Kurt, who doesn't know much about their complicated math but is still helping keep everything straight, repeating equations to Amita and handing over files to whoever needs them.

David nods. "Three's right. And Blaine's boyfriend- he's just as devoted to this as Amita."

Alan smiles. "My sons fell for brave, smart, devoted people. They have good minds and good hearts, what can I say?"

David smiles. "They definitely got it from somewhere."

 -

"Kurt shouldn't be here," Don says. "All this, our world, blood and criminals and death. It's not his place. Bad enough Blaine follows us blindly. Kurt should only have to deal with his boyfriend’s family, not our careers.”

“To his defense,” Charlie says, “He knew exactly what he was getting into when he agreed to come to L.A. with Blaine. Blainers gave him ample warning and background preparation before inviting him to come stay with us, and Kurt still decided to come visit. The kids aren’t fourteen and vulnerable, Don. They’re both sixteen with good heads on their shoulders.”

“But I don’t want them getting hurt,” Don replies, and Charlie knows exactly what he’s talking about. He was there in the hospital those horrible days, too, those days when he had no idea whether his little brother would emerge from unconsciousness or not.

"It's going to happen anyway, Don- we just have to do what we can to help prevent it from happening. And sending Kurt home, distancing Blaine from him- that's not the correct solution."

"And what _is_ the correct solution?" Don asks, tone bordering on dangerous, and Charlie throws up his hands.

"I don't know, Don!" Charlie says, and it obviously disturbs him that he doesn't know.

"Then I'm pulling you off the case," Don says, voice firm and unbending, and Charlie doesn't respond. He knows he won't be able to stop, won't be able to even slow down the formulas that have been pounding through his brain since the case began, but he knows there's no point to fighting Don- all the Eppes boys are too stubborn for their own good.

"Fine," Charlie snaps, and Don nods.

"Really? Okay, good."

 -

When Charlie looks up and sees two older men sitting in the back of his classroom next to his little brother and his boyfriend, his heart skips a beat (or a few). He quickly switches topics, talking about decision theory, and continues on this line of talking as if nothing has changed until he flips open his cellphone to call Don and comes up with a scrambled signal. He gulps and glances out at his brother, whose hands are gripping the armrest next to him and Kurt's hand with white-knuckled tightness as if he's realized what's going on. He can read Blaine's face, even though he can tell that his little brother is trying to keep a calm exterior, and Blaine is just as nervous as him.

Eventually, though, they do get a campus security officer, after which Charlie dismisses his class, and then Don, by which point the mob guys are gone.

Don's face goes near-white when he hears what happened, and the shouting match he and Charlie get into is intense.

"I told you not to work on the case!" He shouts, gesturing angrily, and Charlie throws his hands up.

"I know you said not to, but just can't stop, Don. I'm the same as you, same as Blaine-" he gestures to their little brother, who's leaning casually against an empty seat but whose hand has not left Kurt's yet since the mob guys first appeared. Kurt seems to be holding up well for his first case, but they still need to keep an eye on him just in case. "-I can't let something go once I've started. For you it's a case, for Blaine it's a song or a performance. We Eppes brothers can't let things go, Don. I may not be on a case officially but the numbers, the equations- they're still there and they _won't stop_  until I get results."

"It's true, Don," Blaine pipes up, "And you know it as well as we do."

Don sighs, running his hand through his hair in a nervous tic. "I know you won't stop, but that doesn't mean I want you on the case. Charlie, I can't stand the idea of any of you guys getting hurt because we've been working on this investigation. You, Blaine, Dad, Kurt, Amita- I don't want you all to end up hurt or something worse, like with those kids that the mob killed-"

"Wait a moment," Charlie interrupts with a gasp. "What you just said - I have an idea." Calculations and equations fly through his head and he points at Kurt without looking up. "Kurt, can you and Blaine pull the chalkboards over to the middle and erase them?" Kurt and Blaine hustle to do what he's asked, and even as he begins running the patterns through his head Don stares at him, a mixture of surprise and resignation on his face.

"I think I may have the solution to the case."

**Author's Note:**

> I'm willing to write another chapter to this filling in more of Blaine's childhood, meeting Kurt, and the rest of the case if anyone requests it.


End file.
